Friday, October 26, 2007

Wolves and Global Warming

As the world begins to change due to global warming, we can see the effects of these changes here in the United States, as Alaska is one of the most extreme examples of this in the world. As ice melts and temperatures rise, flooding and erosion threaten to take out entire Eskimo communities that live by the sea. Additionally, the coastal areas are experiencing stronger storms and intensified waves, which often led "several coastal villages ... actively trying to figure out where to move entire communities." Wolves have had to relocate farther into land as their habitats are being destroyed or flooded. Also affecting the environment is the increase in the amount of spruce bark beetles has resulted in the destruction of 4 million acres of spruce forest, home to innumerable wild animals, over the past twenty years. "More beetle larvae can survive, and higher summer temperatures allow the insects to mature faster and complete a two-year life cycle in one year." These beetles destroy trees vital to the habitat in which wolves live and also force them to relocate into different, often smaller locations that have a way of being closer to human populations.

Here are some pictures that illustrate the effects of the destructive spruce bark beetle:

As for moose populations, they are also experiencing the effects of global warming, but in a way that makes them more vulnerable to preying wolves. With warm temperatures, moose often become more susceptible to falling victim to a wolf because they are "stressed out" with the higher temperatures. Because moose cannot sweat, they often have to lie in the shade or water to cool themselves. A result of this is that moose often do not feed during this time and become weak, easy targets for wolves in the winter. In addition to the heat, moose are experiencing an outbreak of ticks with the higher temperatures. "A single moose can be host to tens of thousands at a time, several per square inch, and each tick can suck up about a cubic centimeter of blood." Such extreme blood loss, which most likely results in weight loss, proves detrimental to many moose each year.

When coming from an environmental standpoint, it seems as if the decrease in moose population is not so much due to wolves, but as a result of humans' destruction to the environment.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Theory Post

In order to create a theory on my topic of the aerial shooting of wolves, I had to dig down deep to the root of the cause of people's desire or feeling of need to shoot wolves. I want to expose my thinking of why humans believe animals that are predatory and feed on other animals to sustain life are disdainful and barbarous. This comes from idealistic thinking in society and the wish to make everything relate to romanticism. By definition, romanticism is the emphasis on the imagination or emotions. This idea causes humans to feel hatred towards wolves when they prey on such animals as deer and rabbits, and it is for this reason my theory is that the reason why humans have a desire to shoot wolves both because they feel somewhat threatened by their powerful presence and because most humans tend to be romantic in their thinking of how the world should be.

The human desire to be kind to animals is a very romantic quality that dates back to the 19th century. While it is understandable to want to be kind to animals, we as humans have to understand that the predator-prey relationship is a natural part of life and should be respected. Additionally, humans are often intimidated by the powerful presence of a wolf. With an average bite strength of about 1,500 pounds of pressure per square inch and coming in at speeds of up to thirty-five miles per hour, it is understandable why one might feel the need to stay far away from wolves out of pure fear. Even the earliest settlers of America showed signs of this fear and often slaughtered wolves to keep them from coming near their homes. However, wolves, unless rabid, do not pose hardly any threat to humans at all. A CNN news reporter writes, "while humans have killed an estimated two million wolves in this century, there is not a single documented case of a human being killed by a healthy wild wolf." That says a lot for wolves.

In order to eliminate this fear of wolves and the romantic ideals of average Americans, education about wolves and other predatory animals is needed. There is no doubt that with education comes understanding and understanding would lead to better relationships between humans and animals (specifically wolves). With the elimination of ignorance on the subject of predatory animals, I believe this would eliminate people's need to slaughter wild animals out of fear, unless populations are completely out of control.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Understanding the Habitat

In order to better understand why wolves have become such a nuisance to many Americans, I believe it would be beneficial to take a more intensive look at their habitat and living conditions. By doing so, we can find out how the wolf and human population overlaps in such a way one might consider exterminating some of the wolves. Because the most populous wolf in Alaska is the gray wolf, also known as the timber wolf, I will focus specifically on them.

The habitat of wolves includes most of the northern hemisphere and is becoming larger as they become more adapted to different climates. Generally, wolves are known to mainly inhabit forests, arctic tundra, and prairie. Known for being predatory animals, wolves are often feared and many seek to kill them off in areas where humans are especially predominant. Wolves are extremely well adapted and can quickly adapt to new environments whose temperatures can be as far varied as -70 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. It is for this reason they have adapted to almost every environment except extremely cold environments and desert. Wolves have actually been intentionally killed out in a lot of areas where people have made wolves unwelcome, usually because they do not understand the the place of the wolf in the local ecosystems and food chains.

In the lower fourty eight states there are approximately 2,500 wolves and in Alaska there is estimated to be anywhere from 7,000 to 11,000 wolves. So, while they are not endangered in Alaska, due to years of preservation, they are having some trouble maintaing their ground in the rest of the United States. Also, with the recent extermination of wolves, the wolves are unable to control the populations of their prey by killing the weakest in each group, which strengthens the overall dynamics of the group. While this may not have an immediate effect, as the weaker prey are allowed to breed, who knows what this will do for the overall population.